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Various bioeconomy strategies aim to replace fossil resources with renewable agrarian resources without departing from the agro-industrial model. Paradoxically, the bioeconomy model is an extractive system itself, dependent on the constant supply of mineral resources to replace the nutrients extracted from the soil. Using a historical-theoretical approach, this article fi rst analyses the fl ows of nutrients in this system and then focuses specifi - cally on the nutrient phosphorus and the raw material phosphate rock. Classifi ed as a “low-cost bulk commodity” for decades, since 2007 phosphate rock has become a strategic resource and scholars have started debating the possibility of reaching “Peak Phosphorus” by 2030. By analysing state and private actor strategies to adapt to this emerging situation, it becomes clear that the control over fl ows of phosphorous is increasingly contested. This article argues that bioeconomy strategies are aggravating existing confl icts over phosphate supply, as well as global inequalities, which inter alia become evident in food crises. Technological innovations, which are promoted within bioeconomy strategies, only reduce the extractive character of industrial agriculture in a limited way, while also securing the interests of dominant actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]